It occurred to me when I was posting my last book review, that I write almost exclusively about fiction, which is funny because I read almost equal amounts of fiction and non-fiction. I am very different in how I read each type, however.

I only read fiction before I go to bed. For example, last night before I went to bed I read Frindle (a speedy read by Andrew Clements that I have meant to read for awhile), then I read a couple chapters of an eerie fantasy I am about halfway through called The Prophecy of the Sisters.

During the day, I read a lot of non-fiction and am often reading from several different books over the same time period. During breakfast, I read from a book about options for volunteer vacations, and during lunch, I almost always read book reviews from School Library Journal or VOYA. Write now, I'm also reading a book called A Pace for Grace, a book about planning for retirement (a long ways off!), and a book about Baby Sign Language. I like to switch off and on to mix-it-up in my non-fiction reading.

How about you? What is your reading style? 

I was sad to learn that Madeline L'Engle, author of one of my favorite books, A Wrinkle in Time, died on September 6, 2007, at the age of 88.

To read more about her life and tributes to a lifetime as a writer, click on this Publisher's Weekly link:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6478067.html?nid=2788

If you would like to enjoy L'Engle's most famous classic Newbery-award-winning book, come to the library and check out A Wrinkle in Time as a print book, an audiobook listen to it, or even watch a movie adaptation we have available on DVD.

The more I talked about it, the more I realized how many elements of it I really enjoyed...I like many characters, especially Boy X (some number? instead of a name) and Jenna, and the aunt who they stay with deep in the bog. I also like many of the plot elements, like how they make the shield bugs and the legend of the dragon boat, and lots of stuff.

I think that I was trying to read so many books on the Battle of the Books list, that it started feeling more like work...and I should have taken a break and picked something different. I'm sure that's what AR feels like sometimes, too. I'm glad most of the time I can read whatever I want.

I think also that it is not a favor to books or movies when they are compared (in their advertising or back cover blurb) to other really famous, well-liked books or movies, as it just sets them up to be disappointing.

So...in conclusion, if you got this far in reading this rant (!), I do recommend that book and think there are lots of fun things about it. It is exciting and draws you in...and makes things easy to visualize. Like Dom Daniel, the evil Necromancer, looks in my head like the master of Darth Vader in Star Wars...who I think is a really creepy villain.